Just to be clear, this is not a vaccine. It is an antiviral drug delivered by a long-lasting subdermal delivery implant. It has been known that antiviral drugs effectively prevent HIV infection for some time now (about 20 years). Recent work has been on better-tolerated and longer-lasting formulations.
Treatment of HIV+ people also reduces their infectiousness, and good treatment reduces the risk of passing the infection on nearly to zero. Providing sufficient HIV antivirals and medical care to everyone in the population, both HIV+ and at risk for HIV, in theory, could be enough to halt the pandemic. Some wealthy countries with sensible policies have seen remarkable gains. The UK is reasonably effective at getting drugs to both the HIV+ and to at-risk populations, and the number of new HIV infections there, has been reduced by approximately half in the last decade.
> It is an antiviral drug delivered by a long-lasting subdermal delivery implant.
I don't see anything to indicate it's an implant - the prescribing information [1] says it's a subQ injection, and the trial information [2] seems consistent with that.
You're right. I blithely assumed any drug with such a long half-life must have some sort of delayed dose mechanism. But it seems it's just extraordinarily stable and is very, very slowly absorbed. Remarkable.
It’s not a vaccine, but it’s close to one at twice a year.
Even if we can consider HIV “cured” in the developed world (where PrEP is available to anyone who wants it) there’s no way we eradicate HIV from impoverished countries with limited healthcare access until we either have 1) a vaccine, or 2) a shot (or something) that prevents HIV for a really freaking long time.
Not sure if 6 months will quite cut it, but it’s great to see progress in the right direction. More advancement is needed.
I assume you’re referring to things like the flu vaccine. Many vaccines can last 10, 20 years or more which this doesn’t come close to.
That’s not to say it’s not a great improvement, I happily await the day we can nearly eliminate some of these infectious diseases that plague humanity.
Treatment of HIV+ people also reduces their infectiousness, and good treatment reduces the risk of passing the infection on nearly to zero. Providing sufficient HIV antivirals and medical care to everyone in the population, both HIV+ and at risk for HIV, in theory, could be enough to halt the pandemic. Some wealthy countries with sensible policies have seen remarkable gains. The UK is reasonably effective at getting drugs to both the HIV+ and to at-risk populations, and the number of new HIV infections there, has been reduced by approximately half in the last decade.